Basically… it was really fun.

I got asked to sign a bunch of books. I got to eat some delicious treats. My boyfriend and his family came out to the library on a weeknight to listen to people reading stories (you may not realize how amazing that is!). Well, his mom is fairly likely to do that anyway, but certainly Adam and his father were showing me just how much they love me, by giving up time on the sofa watching sports, which is their favourite enjoyable activity of an average weeknight.

Also my own dad, his girlfriend, and my brother came by too. Even though at the time I was a little nervous (preparing to read, talking to other folks), and couldn’t really give them my full and undivided attention, I’m so glad they were there and that they made the time to come. It really means a lot to an artist of any kind, for whom most work is done alone, to have friends and family come out to see them read or perform or present or .. whatever!

So anyway. The book is launched! If you’re wondering where you can get it, you’ll be able to buy it soon on the Third Person Press website, as well as in stores around the island. I’ll let you know when I know which stores.

***

And now it’s the weekend! Well, close enough. Due to a conference out at school today, my classes were cancelled, so I’ve got the day at home. I’m slowly but surely working on getting my office organized. Right now the office feels like (and is!) just a big jumble of: desks (I have two), books, mini piles of papers, random receipts, bags of stuff brought from my mother’s house and left in the corner because I was too busy at the time to go through them, art supplies, binders, a milk crate, a plant, and more. So much more.

What I want it to be: organized, but with empty space for working in. I want to have the important things and places easy to reach but still out of the way. I want it to be somehow open to inspiration and play, but also not cluttered and cranky-making.

I’ll get there. I hope.

It’s amazing how much other things take priority, or at least how much I think they should. This office has been my workspace for a year now, and yes, it’s gotten a little more organized than it was at the beginning. (The recyclables have moved down to the basement, for example.) And it’s great to have a whole room to myself, that I can just shut the door on and walk away when I need to cook supper. That’s something I’ve always wanted and am so grateful for.

But the “just dump it in the office and sort it later” mindset has gotten me to this point where everywhere I look there is a mess, and instead of feeling productive when I sit down at my computer, I feel frustrated. And there is so little time in the day to tackle these messes!! Between the everyday things that need to be done (eat, use the bathroom, keep clean, go to school, do my homework, spend time with my partner), it feels like the time that is left over to take care of my own creative life and my own creative space is miniscule, and fractured in between all these other things. Do you feel that way? Sometimes I really do. And I feel helpless, unable to say no to stuff, or in some way gain control over my own day-to-day schedule. I crave, with a passion I used to reserve for chocolate or my boyfriend, several uninterrupted blocks of hours to just figure this shit out. To sort the papers, organize the receipts, clear the space.

To that end I’ve signed up for two online courses. (The wonderful thing about online courses is they are self-paced!) One is Elise Blaha Cripe’s “I Choose: Inspiration and Motivation to Make Goal-Setting Fun.” And the other is Tiffany Han’s “How To Say No.” Elise’s cost $15 and Tiffany’s cost $25 (both US dollars). So far, money well spent.

And, today, I do have an uninterrupted block of hours. So without further ado, have a great weekend! I gotta get to work.